


Villains Don't Have Loved Ones

by WhiteBAG



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: (Brief) Mind Control, Action, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexuality, Canon Related, Character Study, Complicated Relationships, Crushes, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Falling In Love, Family, First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Living Together, Love, Missing Scene, Origin Story, Pre-Canon, Retelling, Secret Identity, Shego in Denial, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Superheroes, Supervillains
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29072130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteBAG/pseuds/WhiteBAG
Summary: Villains don't have loved ones... Or do they?***Drakken and Shego have a fascinating relationship, and I'm here to over-analyse them with a series of missing scenes.
Relationships: Dr. Drakken & James Possible, Dr. Drakken & Kim Possible, Dr. Drakken & Ron Stoppable, Dr. Drakken/Shego (Kim Possible), Kim Possible & Shego, Shego & Team Go (Kim Possible)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. My Name Is Shego

**Author's Note:**

> The fic features my headcanon names for the Team Go members, but they only come up once or twice, so you can completely ignore them if you don’t like them, they’re not really important to the overall story.  
> I know there's probably a lot of origin stories about those two already but I just really wanted to write my own - I had an idea and I just rolled with it.  
> Hope you enjoy! <3

Hugo was her older brother but sometimes acted like a younger one. He really annoyed her sometimes.

He was leading her into a secret spot behind the bushes. Normally a meeting like this would be held in their treehouse, except the entire tree was now destroyed after the unfortunate comet incident. It was a miracle all five of them survived.

She crawled on the ground, complaining about the mud, until they found the spot where they could sit straight.

"We're too old for this," she grumbled. She was a teenager, for crying out loud. "What's so secret about your new idea that we needed a hiding spot for you to reveal it?"

Hugo pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. "Watch this, I finally figured this out!" he wrote down his name.

"Oh, no, not the secret identity thing again," she rolled her eyes.

Her brother was a big fan of Superman. And ever since the comet accident, there was only one thing on his mind...

"Hugo the ordinary guy," with his voice lowered, he showed her the piece of paper. He then crossed the letter u and replaced it with e, "Hego the superhero."

That actually got her to cock her head. "Hego? I don't get it."

“It makes more sense when you look at the other members of Hego's team,” he admitted. “There's a theme to it. It's pronoun-based.”

"Hugo, we've been over this a hundred times. I have my own plans for the future. I want to be a teacher, remember? I won't be a member of your stupid, imaginary superhero team! I won't be having a superhero name, and I won't be having a secret identity! You do with your powers whatever you like, but I plan to ignore mine, okay? I never asked for them, never wanted them! I'm normal!"

That last sentence sounded as if she was trying to convince herself. There was no denying it - ever since the accident her skin took a shade of very pale chartreuse.

Hugo didn't seem to listen. He already wrote down her name before crossing out most letters from the middle.

**She** ~~ena Santia~~ **go**

"Your name," he said, "is Shego."

And that's how it all started.

* * *

The class got suddenly interrupted by the explosion outside. Two seconds passed as everyone stared out the window, before she raised her hand.

"I need to go to the bathroom."

"What," a local bully remarked, "did you piss yourself from fear or something? Haha!"

In that moment, she had to gather all of her willpower to fight off a violent urge to kill the guy on the spot. And killing him wouldn’t be hard - her energy blast would literally incinerate him in a matter of seconds if she desired. But with great power comes great responsibility, as her brother once said. And she was all about that responsibility.

"Go," the teacher sighed dismissively.

She quickly left the classroom and entered a restroom to change her clothes. She still wasn’t sure about wearing the superhero outfit, but it fulfilled its purpose, and she had to admit - the uneven harlequin pattern looked rather slick on her.

In the next couple of seconds, Shego left the college building.

Hego, and their younger brothers, Mego and the Wego twins, were already at the scene of the crime. Shego frowned.

There wasn’t a big age difference between Hego, Shego and Mego. However, Hego and Shego were already young adults, while Mego was still in his late teens. Not to mention the Wego twins were still children.

It was one thing for Hugo to drag her into his superhero fantasies. But he also did the same with their younger siblings. Immature choice, for someone who dared to lecture her about taking the responsibility.

Sure, they were all struck by a rainbow comet while in their family tree house - they _were_ all granted superpowers. It almost seemed logical they would fight crime as a type of family-bonding activity. But Shego wasn’t entirely convinced it was something she enjoyed.

Together, they defended Go City from all kinds of resident villains - Electronique, Aviarius, Mathter, you name it. Fighting crime is what they’ve been doing for the past few _years_ now. And as much as Shego hated to admit it - they were pretty good at it.

This time, it seemed like Electronique set up some explosive devices all around the place. After a few moments of Hego and Mego telling her about all the information they’ve gathered, Shego came up with a plan.

The Wego twins would use their powers to make copies of themselves and search the city faster - they had to find both all the hidden bombs and Electronique herself.

However, sending the kids to find hidden bombs was dangerous enough, so they weren’t allowed to touch anything, and they especially weren’t allowed to try to disarm anything - that would be Shego’s job. She could destroy those devices in the most effective way, so she was tagging along with them.

Electronique was a tech genius, but hand-to-hand combat wasn’t her strong point. That’s why Hego, with his super-strength, was assigned to fight her as soon as she was found out, and capture her. But mainly just distract her.

Because during all that, Mego had a mission to sneak around her hiding place, unnoticed - find out about her potential future plans, find _anything_ that would prove useful. And if he could find out a button to disarm all the devices at once, that would be most helpful as well.

Shego was pretty bossy, but she was also an excellent team player when she wanted to. The superhero thing was Hego’s idea, sure, but she was the one holding it together and making it work, whether she wanted it or not.

And just like any other time, her plan worked _flawlessly_. Electronique was captured soon after, and it would be a long time before she got out of jail.

After all was said and done, Shego hurried back to college, dressed back into her civilian clothes, rushed to the classroom, and only then realized the day was almost over - her classes ended hours ago.

She sighed, heavily.

Hego kept saying that the superhero work gave him fulfillment - their team saved the lives of citizens and their gratitude was all the thanks he needed. Shego didn’t share that mentality.

She wanted a job that _paid_. Pretty smiles and satisfaction from doing good just simply wasn’t for her.

She couldn’t miss any more of her classes. She couldn’t just fail or give up on her dream job! If she wanted to become a teacher, she had to focus on it.

But she couldn’t just leave her brothers either. Hego being a leader? He would put Mego and the twins in constant danger. Not to mention, they would _suck_ without her.

* * *

Hego spent all of his savings to make the Go Tower a possibility. Shego hated that place. It was way too big for just the five of them, the interior design made no sense, and it just seemed to pretentious.

She used her glow to enter the building. At the moment, there was only one person in the meeting area - Mego. He was sitting at the table looking rather bored, watching cable television on their huge screen.

Mego was lanky and looked kind of like a beanpole. His ego was so big that it would make his shrinking superpower ironic, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was extremely useful in certain situations - and he knew it. Mego was self-absorbed just the right amount to make him both amusing and fun to hang out with.

Shego and Mego were pretty close, compared to their relationship to their other siblings. Mego’s skin also turned a different color - a shade of lavender in his case - so Shego felt less of a freak when she was around him.

“Hugo’s not here yet,” he muttered when he saw her arrive. “He has a shift at his new job at Bueno Nacho.”

“Wait, he works at Bueno Nacho now?” Shego snorted. “Very ambitious.”

Hego’s heart was in the right place. He just lacked a brain.

Mego shrugged. If he had a different opinion about that, he probably wouldn’t share - he usually wasn’t interested in talking about someone else. Shego joined him at the table. “Weldon and Weston?” she asked.

“Somewhere upstairs,” he glanced at her. “Since we have to wait for everyone… Want to watch a movie or…?”

“Sure. It’s not like we have something better to do, anyway.”

Mego smiled, glad she didn’t make him do his homework in their free time. She probably had some side work to do too, but if she wouldn’t bring it up first, he wasn’t going to just ask about it and ruin their evening.

The movie featured a classic superhero versus supervillain dynamic. It was one of the movies from Hego’s collection.

“Hey, Max?” Shego asked, looking at the screen.

“Hm?” Mego hummed lazily.

“You ever wonder how villains always have the upper hand when fighting heroes?”

“What do you mean?”

“Villains don’t have loved ones. So the hero can’t just kidnap someone close to the villain and demand them to surrender. But villains almost always use that card when fighting the good guys.”

Shego always thought that if any of the villains put her brothers in danger, it would give her a panic attack (letting the twins join their missions was already pretty scary). She would have to do something about it and she would get distracted, giving the bad guy a chance to escape. But could Shego put Electronique’s loved one in danger to gain the advantage? No. Because Electronique worked alone.

“I… suppose that’s what makes them the good guys, though,” Mego answered. “They wouldn’t kidnap anyone. And they would give up on capturing the bad guy, to save other people.”

“Yeah, but if the villain gets away, they will just threaten more people later! Not capturing the bad guy just doesn’t seem efficient. Anyway,” she shrugged, “it’s just something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.”

* * *

She had a date tonight, so she decided to put on her best perfume. But as she was just about to leave, the floor trembled under her feet. And then again. And again.

This wasn’t a usual earthquake. Those were _steps_.

She looked out of the window only to see a gigantic robot traversing the city.

She sighed heavily. _Not today…_ It looked like her date wasn’t happening after all. _Ugh_ , that also meant she would have to call them later and apologize! This sucked...

With gloomy thoughts, she quickly changed into her superhero outfit and met with her brothers in the middle of the street. They stared at the giant machine, ready to fight but not quite knowing how to approach the situation.

“Who even is that?” Shego asked, raising her eyebrows.

“We don’t know,” said Wego.

“We think it might be someone new,” added the other Wego.

“Alright, this seems straightforward enough. You boys stay on the ground, keep and eye on each other and make sure all civilians are out of the way. I’ll deal with the driver. Hego? I need a lift.”

“You got it,” Hego put his hands together. They started glowing blue before she hopped on them. “Good luck!” he called out, as he fired her high up.

Shego flew, aiming at the robot’s head, where the bad guy was. However, the machine was moving fast, and she didn’t quite get to the top, realizing she was about to collide with the robot’s back. She used her green glow before she hit the metal - her hands pierced the plate, disallowing her to slip down. She grunted and started climbing.

The climb was harder than she anticipated it being - the robot was constantly shaking from its movement, and the wind hit hard. And whoever was steering the machine, they already managed to tear the roof off the bank and grab the safe full of money.

At last, Shego reached the robot’s shoulder. She hopped onto her feet, finally spotting the driver. He was sitting inside a round, windowless compartment, where the robot’s head should be.

The wind shifted.

The driver either caught the scent of her perfume or simply sensed her presence, because he turned to face her.

It was a man in his 30s. He had long black hair tied in a ponytail, a scar under his left eye, and… a light-blue skin.

He seemed surprised to have company, but he didn’t attack. In fact, he didn’t do anything - for a while neither of them moved, not sure what would happen next.

"Who- What are you _doing_ _here_?" he finally asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I’m here to stop you," Shego answered, raising her fists.

"Oh, please," the man rolled his eyes, as if she was a minor annoyance, and pressed a button on his console.

This activated laser cannons placed inside the compartment. Shego ducked before any of them shot her and used her glow to shoot back at the cannons, destroying them completely. She then jumped inside the compartment, gracefully. The villain glanced over his shoulder, both surprised and impressed, fastening his seatbelt at the same time.

“You’re not a Go City villain, are you?” Shego asked, wondering if there was any way to talk this guy out of this.

“No, and I’m not planning on staying here much longer. Already got what I came here for,” he said, pointing at the safe, before pressing another button.

This caused the entire compartment to spin rapidly. Shego lost her balance. Her back hit the metal wall, and the pain caused her to shut her eyes and hiss. Then she realized, almost at the last moment, that her body was tumbling towards the exit. She used her glow again to claw into something, _anything_ , preventing her from falling out, just in time - her entire body was already outside, save for her hands fixed on the floor.

Shego breathed heavily. It wasn’t from the exhaustion, though. In fact, there was something strangely intoxicating about this fight. Unlike most villains she usually had to fight with, this one seemed to have a... potential.

She started moving her body back and forth, swinging, until she could backflip back into the compartment. However, she didn’t quite get back into the fight, as she noticed something in the corner of her eye.

The entire wall of a building was about to collapse, and Mego was running across the street, unaware of the danger. And Hego was nowhere near to warn or save him.

Shego faced the inside of the compartment again, realizing the villain was now running straight at her - too late. She didn’t get her chance to react, as he used his body weight to push her out, taking the opportunity of advantage as she was being distracted.

“Farewell, Miss Superhero!” she heard his loud voice as she was plummeting down. “May we never meet again!” he called out before laughing _maniacally_.

The robot’s engines fired up, and it lifted off the ground. The machine soon disappeared behind the clouds, and the villain’s laughter faded out with it.

Shego used her glow, shooting straight down, hoping that her green fire would work as a propeller and prevent her death, or at least ease her fall. It worked, sort of. She still hit the ground hard, tumbling out of her breath. She was still alive, though, and most important - still conscious.

With wasting no time, she raised her hands and shot at the falling wall, as hard as she could, turning the concrete into dust. Only then Mego realized what was happening and used his power to shrink and avoid bigger chunks of flying debris at the very last second.

He lived. She saved him, he was okay.

Shego let out a long, tired noise. She wished she could lose her consciousness right here, right now, to not deal with her emotions, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Instead, Mego walked up to her and helped her get back on her feet.

Hego and the Wego twins showed up soon after that.

“Well, at least the robot’s gone,” Hego announced. “Good job, team!”

“Good job-” Shego mumbled before turning to face him. “ _Good job?_ ” she yelled.

“Well, yeah, okay, the money got stolen, but literally no one got hurt! That’s a success in my book.”

“Mego almost got crushed! Where were you? You guys were meant to keep an eye on each other!”

“What got into you, Shego?” Hego asked, concerned.

“I’m done babysitting you guys!” his sister kept screaming. “You drive me crazy, all of you!”

She then turned on her heel and stormed off. She also just remembered she had to make a call, to apologize and make an excuse for not showing up on her date.

* * *

At last, Shego became fully credentialed in Child Development.

But as she stared at her degree with her hands shaking, she kept questioning her life choices. Having to deal with her immature brothers for so many years caused the perspective of working with children… somehow unappealing.

Did she even want to become a teacher anymore? Or did she want to do something else with her life?

It would be weeks before she made her final decision.

She entered the meeting area in the Go Tower. All her brothers were already there. Perfect. It meant she wouldn’t have to say it more than once.

“I’m leaving the country,” she announced, her tone serious. “And I’m not coming back.”

Mego stood up as his first instinct, his eyes wide. The twins looked at each other, surprised.

“But… where are you going?” Hego asked, concerned.

“Let’s call it a self-discovery trip,” she answered flatly.

“You’re actually not gonna tell us?” Mego furrowed his eyebrows. “Not even me?”

“What can I say? I really don’t want you guys to follow me. I’m going to devote all of this time to myself, for once. I’m sure _you_ can understand.”

He folded his arms and glanced away, pouting.

“Shego, come on. What is it really about?” Hego asked, his voice soft.

“Let’s just say that I’m tired and dissatisfied with my life, okay? I want to try out something new. Geez. What else do you need to know?” she rolled her eyes.

“Or maybe you’re leaving the team because you like evil better,” Hego smirked at her.

“Grow. Up!” Shego snapped.

They watched as she turned on her heel, taking first steps towards the exit.

“Wait… You can’t really leave!” Hego protested.

“Watch me,” she growled.

“You’re not serious about leaving the country! The Sheena I love wanted to stay in Go City and become a teacher, remember?”

"It is what Sheena wanted," his sister agreed with a sigh. "But I think you're forgetting about something."

She turned her head to look at her family one last time.

"My name," she said, "is Shego."

And then she walked toward the exit and then kept walking. And despite Team Go’s best efforts to call out to Sheena, begging her to not leave, Shego was determined to _never_ look back.


	2. Job Application

After all her years of crime fighting, Shego knew too well that it took a lot of effort and hard work to be a good guy. And honestly? She was done working hard.

She spent another few years on the run. She arrived in a country of her choice, stole as much as she could to survive and grant herself a comfortable life, and when the time came when she had to run, she simply escaped to another country.

She used violence whenever she felt like it. It was freeing in a way, but it got her a reputation. The people who got away safely described her as a shadow that came out of nowhere, fast and dangerous, with hands covered in a sickly green glow that destroyed everything in its path. Unnatural. Scary.

Being a bad guy proved much more profitable than Shego first thought. She didn’t always win, but she found a lot of value in losing, as every time it taught her something new.

And speaking of losing, there was one time when she lost big time. She ended up having eleven countries swear out warrants for her arrest, with little to no money. If she wanted to travel to another country and continue her lifestyle, she had to plan ahead carefully.

And that’s when she realized that for some time now she craved... stability. However, the villain life suited her and she didn’t want to leave it behind. And this is when she decided - she would become a mercenary for hire.

During all her travels she got something money simply couldn’t buy - experience. She was a master thief. She was excellent at combat. There had to be another villain willing to hire a person with her specific set of skills.

It didn’t take her long to find a job offer. A mad scientist named “Dr. Drakken” was looking for henchmen, and he paid well. And his main goal was to take over the world, too - you couldn’t get more ambitious than that.

Shego decided to give it a try and apply for a job. She sent him her CV and scheduled an appointment.

Dr. Drakken’s lair was built on top of a huge, rocky hill on a Caribbean island. The island was dotted by a few palms and countless warning signs, telling the unwanted visitors that the place was haunted. It had its charm, really.

As Shego climbed up the windy hill, she thought that waking up here every day, with the view of the ocean, would honestly be a reward in itself.

The entrance was a round, heavy door, blending perfectly into the rock - she only noticed it because it was wide open.

She made her way through the hallway, already filled with a few other men also applying for the henchman job, and stood in the line. She was the only woman here.

When it was her turn, she entered the study, closed the door behind her and looked around. She was ready to finally talk with Dr. Drakken himself.

There was a bookcase standing against the wall, and a giant fireplace behind the desk. And sitting at the desk was...

A man with light-blue skin and a scar under his left eye. The very same man she fought years ago.

He looked up, away from the papers on his desk, and their eyes locked.

"It's you!" both of them called out at the same time. Dr. Drakken stood up immediately, as Shego raised her fists, getting into a battle stance.

He quickly pressed a button hidden under his desk, opening a trapdoor underneath Shego’s feet. She fell down a narrow shaft with a short scream, before she used her powers to claw into the walls, stopping herself from falling. After that, she got herself out, climbing the wall as fast as she could. She jumped out of the pit, but Dr. Drakken was nowhere in sight - luckily, she noticed a movement near the fireplace.

She ran to examine it - surely Dr. Drakken must have escaped, using a secret passage behind the fireplace, but she had no idea how to activate it to open again. It could as well be opened by one of the books, and she had no time for checking the entire bookcase.

Instead, she took a step back and extended her hands. Once she gathered enough glow, she shot at the fireplace, exploding the wall into pieces. She then jumped over the green fire and pursued the villain through the passage.

She was running down the staircase when she spotted him, almost at the bottom already. Shego started jumping over a few steps at a time, meaning to stop him before losing him from sight again.

As Dr. Drakken reached the bottom of the staircase, he turned, pulling out something that looked vaguely like a gun - it was probably a ray of...  _ something _ \- whatever a mad scientist like him would come up with.

But he didn’t even get a chance to aim it properly. Shego, finally at the bottom of the staircase, knocked the weapon out of Dr. Drakken’s hand with one solid kick. Then she grabbed his arm and tossed the villain over her head. His body hit the ground, leaving him breathless for a moment. She then turned on her glow and shoved it very close to his face.

As they glared at each other, both breathing heavily with their eyebrows furrowed, Shego remembered a true purpose of her visit.

“So…” she snickered, turning her glow off, and straightening her back, “am I hired or…?”

“H-hold on, time’s up,” he sputtered, shaking his head and putting his hands together to form a letter T. “You really came here to apply for a job? I thought you were a superhero!”

“Never said I was.”

Dr. Drakken eyed her carefully, as the gears in his head kept turning. He must have been remembering how much of an impression she left on him when they first met. He must have read her CV. He must have been putting it all together, realizing how valuable it would be to keep her around.

“Huh,” he finally voiced. “I suppose it was all just a misunderstanding then… Fine. Consider yourself hired,” he said, standing up. “I’ll gladly see what else you can do, Miss... Shego, was it? Welcome aboard.”

He sent her a Machiavellian grin, extending his hand. She grinned back before she shook it.


	3. A Certain Teenager

Working for Dr. Drakken proved to be… interesting.

First of all, he recognized Shego’s talents quickly and promoted her to being his personal sidekick almost right away. This meant she would work closely with Dr. Drakken himself, often acting as assistant and bodyguard. This also meant she didn’t have to wear the red henchman uniform, and she was entitled to having her own room she could furnish and decorate however she desired.

Perhaps Dr. Drakken valued her a bit too much, because he kept mentioning the idea of cloning her to the point where she was forced to add a rule to her contract that forbade him any use of her DNA. She was one of a kind, and he just had to deal with it. But the idea that he’d rather just clone her instead of hiring more muscle  _ was  _ flattering, in a weird way.

Speaking of cloning, it was only one of Drakken’s many abilities. He was indeed mad, but a brilliant scientist, though some of his inventions had a tendency to fail - especially robots with artificial intelligence. But even so, this seemed to be the only area of robotics giving him difficulty. He was also plenty skilled at incorporating stolen technology into his own creations, even when the technology in question was far beyond his own ability to create.

And now that Shego was working with him closely, she kept noticing more stuff about him - like how high his sharp cheekbones were, or how dark and cold his eyes were, his irises drawing her in, akin to black holes. Or how his arms were pretty well built from him carrying massive machine parts all day, although he wouldn’t be able to throw solid punches because he also had small surgeon hands, made for a delicate cybernetic job.

None of that really mattered, though. What mattered was how quickly Shego realized he wasn’t quite good at setting personal boundaries. She wasn’t exactly sure when she started calling him “Dr. D” but he never disapproved of the nickname. And things only spiraled from there.

Boy, was he easy to insult.

Every time Shego found a hole in his plan, or every time he said something silly or way over the top, she’d mock him. It wasn’t meant to be callous, in fact, she’d rather call it friendly teasing, a way to entertain herself. And usually Drakken would get annoyed and bite back or tell her to zip it, before going back to work. But that was it - he tolerated it, for whatever reason, giving her no penalty for being this way, so she felt free to continue, to the point of their bickering becoming their daily routine.

With that being said, he could get angry.

He was still her boss, and Shego was very careful not to cross the line that would get her fired. And one day granted her an opportunity to learn where that line was.

It all started when Drakken invented the Brain Switch machine - a scientific marvel, really - and used it successfully, switching places with an inconspicuous-looking soldier, to sneak into a military base and steal an experimental secret weapon.

Before he left, he told Shego to guard his body, as his plan was to change back as soon as he returned. However, in his absence, a certain teenage hero sneaked inside their hideout and stole Drakken’s body, destroying their lair as a bonus, forcing them to move, and generally overcomplicating literally everything.

Shego kept quiet about this until Drakken found out by himself.

“Shego!” he yelled at her, demanding an explanation.

She grinned awkwardly, before snapping back,  _ “She _ took it, okay?”

“You let Kim Possible destroy my lair  _ and  _ take my body?” he kept yelling, crossing the room, closing the space between them.

Suddenly, he was very close - he was so angry he radiated heat. In a moment of weakness, Shego raised her hand to his face.

“You know…” she used a flirtatious voice, her eyes lidded, hoping this would at least cool him down a little. “This body is kinda cute when you’re angry…”

This only made matters worse - he grabbed her wrist with force, something he’d never done before, removing her hand from his cheek immediately. Despite being inside a different body, when Shego looked into his cold eyes, she recognized the same supervillain who pushed her out of the giant robot, all those years ago.

Right... He  _ was  _ a bad guy.

Eventually, everything went back to normal - after a series of events involving a certain teenage hero, Drakken was able to go back to his body, and he didn’t hold a grudge. But Shego definitely learnt a lesson that day - do  _ not  _ flirt with your boss to get out of the trouble.

And speaking of that teenage hero…

* * *

Kim Possible was just a cheerleader brat, not worthy of anyone's time.

It’s what Shego thought at first.

But then they kept meeting, because for some reason that troublesome sixteen-year-old was hellbent on stopping Drakken’s more ambitious plans. And Shego had to admit - she was pretty competent. Kim succeeded more than once, foiling Drakken’s schemes and putting both Shego and him in jail, or, on more lucky days, forcing them to retreat and cover up their tracks.

Shego didn’t mind losing from time to time, but there was something truly condescending about being defeated by a minor. Shego had a feeling that if she’d pursued the career of a teacher, she’d be giving Kim detention _daily_. There was something extremely irritating about that girl in particular, but Shego couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was exactly.

Eventually, Shego learnt about Kim’s younger brothers - twins, in fact. She learnt that Kim found them annoying, but she was still very protective of them. And then one day, when Shego was fighting Kim, as Kim was protecting her goofy sidekick, Shego got a glimpse of her fierce, green eyes - very similar to her own - and something finally clicked.

When Shego looked at her, she saw  _ herself. _

More particularly, she saw a version of her younger self, the one trying to fight crime in the name of good, along with her brothers. A version of herself she associated with failure. A version of herself she so desperately tried to forget about. A version of herself she wanted to  _ destroy. _

However, unlike Shego, Kim Possible wasn’t weighted down by her family - they supported her. And because of that, _ she could do anything _ , as she kept saying.

It was  _ enraging. _

And so, one day Shego swore to herself that she would be the one to destroy Kim Possible once and for all. Even if it was the last thing she did.

* * *

One day, Drakken left the lair accompanied by three robots of his own design. He didn’t come back later that day, or a day after.

Shego soon learnt he landed in jail.

She sighed heavily before heading towards the hovercraft - Drakken’s saucer-like flying car.

One of her jobs as a sidekick was making sure to bust him out of jail whenever he found himself there. It made sense, as she wouldn’t get paid otherwise.

Busting him out wasn’t difficult at all - the hoverboard was equipped with a tractor beam, not to mention, Shego was under the cover of the night, and frankly, the guards weren’t quite ready for what her glow could do. The rescue mission was a piece of cake.

Soon, Shego and her boss were travelling back to their Caribbean lair. She was driving, because she wouldn’t let Drakken, who just woke up, navigate across the ocean in the middle of the night - he’d probably put them right through a wave or something. He was sitting there next to her with his arms crossed, uncharacteristically quiet.

If there was anything Shego learnt about Drakken during their few weeks of working together, was that Drakken simply loved to over-share, and his current silence seemed a bit out of character. She actually expected him to tell her about the past few days.

“Soo…” she voiced, not thrilled about the idea of just sitting there in absolute silence for the entire trip. “What happened?”

It took him another moment to form an answer.

“Let’s just say my plan backfired,” he said before falling silent again, his arms crossed.

She glanced at him. She was still under the impression that he wasn’t telling her something.

“Hm, okay… Let me guess…” she wondered. “Kim Possible?”

“Yes, she was there,” he admitted. “Her goofy sidekick was there too.”

“Right, what’s his name… Ron Stoppable?”

“Whatever, I refuse to acknowledge it. I don’t understand the buffoon’s part in all of this, I don’t understand why he’s there and why Kim  _ Possible _ tolerates his attempts to help,” he said her last name as if it was an insult. “But I bet this won’t last for long, Shego, mark my words, sooner or later she’ll leave him behind because all Possibles are  _ dirty backstabbers!”  _ he raised from his seat, throwing the entire hovercraft off-balance.

“Whoa, whoa, okay,” she put her hand on his shoulder only for a second, to calm him down. “Self-projecting much?” she added before she could bite her tongue.

Drakken sat there for another minute, clearly fighting with himself over whether he wanted to talk about it or not. She waited.

“Shego, what would you do,” he finally snapped, “if you were planning revenge on someone for years, and then you not only lost, but you also learnt that someone was related to your arch-foe this entire time?”

“Is… that what happened to you?”

“Shego, please answer the question.”

“Gee, I don’t know Dr. D!” she rolled her eyes. “Our life experiences aren’t exactly identical.”

He kept staring at her, so she sighed and tried a different approach.

“So you were trying to get revenge on someone related to Kim Possible? Who are we talking about, what’s the story there?”

“Dr. James Possible,” Drakken answered with a groan. “My old college friend, and Kim Possible’s father, apparently.”

“Wow, you had friends in college?”

“Ex-friend! I meant he’s my ex! My ex-friend!” he banged his fists on the hovercraft’s console.

“Jeez, no need to get elated.”

“Shego!” he growled with a warning.

“Okay, okay, so what did he do to you? What’s up with the revenge part?”

Drakken opened his mouth and then closed it. For a moment, the bags under his eyes seemed darker - he looked exhausted.

“We’ve been friends for years,” with his voice now lower, he sunk into his seat. “We even got into the same college - Middleton Institute of Science and Technologies!”

“Heh,” Shego chuckled. “Nerd.”

“Of course I was-” Drakken sputtered, almost offended. “In my experience jocks don’t usually become mad scientists, Shego.”

“Hm,” she quickly glanced at his arms, “you could have fooled me.”

“What?”

“So what happened next?” she asked him.

“Well… for a while it was just the two of us, James and Drew, but then-”

“Wait!” she grinned, realizing the meaning of his words. “Your real name is  _ Drew? _ ”

He groaned.

“Okay, cards on the table - yes, my name is Drew Lipsky,” he sent her a wry smile. “Can I now continue without the unnecessary interruption,  _ please? _ ”

“Sorry,” she tried not to snicker. “Continue.”

“Thank you,” he said, before telling her a full story.

Back when he was known as simply Drew, he attended university with his best friend James. However, James soon befriended other people, and their own friendship began to fade away. Then something… embarrassing happened, and James, instead of defending Drew, laughed at him along with his new friends. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt so much if it wasn’t for the fact that they kept laughing long and loud, day after day, eventually driving Drew over the edge. Soon, Lipsky dropped out of school to begin his life of crime, eventually becoming the supervillain he was today - a mad scientist, Dr. Drakken.

“... and as I recently learnt,” Drakken spoke, “James grew up to have a respected job and a family, and he lives happily ever after despite being a dirty backstabber! There is no justice in this world, I’m telling you, Shego!”

“So you’ve become a villain… out of spite,” she said. It wasn’t really a question.

Drakken stared at her without a word, before finally looking away and making a defeated noise.

“Come on, laugh if you must. I know you want to,” he muttered.

She thought about her own school experience. About bullies making fun of her green skin, calling her a freak of nature. About being alone. About how hard it was for her to get a date, only for it to not go anywhere further, because she had sudden, demanding responsibilities. About overworking herself to the point of mental exhaustion, only for her efforts to go utterly unnoticed.

“Actually,” Shego admitted, not a trace of mockery in her voice, “spite is something I can relate to.”

He looked at her. And then he kept looking.

In that moment, they formed a bond - whether they knew it or not. Destroying a certain teenager was their common goal, sure, but there was something more to it. Maybe it was about proving something to someone. Maybe it was about something else.

She was a woman in her late 20s (or maybe early 30s? He found it hard to tell). She was wearing a black lipstick, her long black hair was flowing against the ocean breeze, and her piercing green eyes seemed focused as she kept driving. She was beautiful. And it made Drakken wonder what she was doing even here in the first place - how did a woman like  _ her _ end up working for  _ him? _

As they continued the flight, Shego couldn’t have known that Drakken was thinking about their first meeting, wondering who she  _ really  _ was back then. Was she a superhero like he thought? Or was she a villain simply trying to best another villain? And who was she trying to spite?

“So…” he finally voiced, quietly. “How did  _ you  _ become-”

“So, Dr, D!” she interrupted him, wanting to change the subject. “Tell me about your plans. What’s our next move?”

He blinked and then grinned, suddenly remembering his evil schemes.

“Glad you asked! Here’s what I’ve been thinking about…”


	4. Alone On A Beach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me way too long to finish this one - just take it, so I can focus on the next one.

After sharing one childhood story, Drakken desperately wanted to share more, and Shego realized she had to take a step back. After the New Year’s, she distanced herself for a while and tried not to listen to more of Drakken’s stories. She really didn’t want to start caring.

Life went on as usual, until one day, Drakken came back to the subject of cloning. Once he suggested he’d clone her, Shego was up and gone. Simple as that.

He might not have known how to set his boundaries, but she was an expert.

Maybe her reaction was a little exaggerated, and she wasn’t exactly above forgiving, but she just wanted to give him a lesson. She said she quit, but she didn’t intend on leaving forever - this job paid too well. She was simply taking a short vacation.

Soon, Shego was lying on a tropical beach, relaxing in the sun, surrounded by attractive people.

A single hour didn’t pass before she got a phone call. And currently, there was only one person who had her number.

“Forget it,” she said, before Drakken even had a chance of saying anything.

“But you don’t know what I’m going to ask, dumpling!”

“Does it involve cloning?” she asked, doing her best to ignore what he just called her.

“No, not at all... Well, okay, maybe a little,” as soon as he said it, Shego threw the phone away. She didn’t have to listen to this. She was on vacation.

She spent another day or two relaxing, water skiing and flirting with boys and girls, although she came back to Drakken, eventually. And when she did, she realized that he evidently missed her greatly.

“Shego,” he gasped. “Shego! You’ve come back!”

“What have we learned?” she asked slowly, taking off her sunglasses.

“... No cloning,” he muttered, folding his arms.

Shego sighed. Only time could tell if he really learned.

* * *

The short vacation didn’t really help in the long run. As soon as Shego came back, Drakken wanted to keep ranting even more, as if he wanted to make up for the lost time. And in return, Shego became even more snarky.

There were times when they could stop everything to argue in the middle of a mission.

“That back-talk is what slows down our entire operation,” Drakken said once. He was the boss here, for crying out loud! He was the one in charge! “I demand obedience!”

“From me?” Shego chuckled mockingly. “Please.”

And then, not even an hour later… Drakken got his hands on the mind-controlling device.

He said he had to test it out first, but she didn’t expect him to just put the device on her head, with little to no warning.

For a moment they just stared at each other - Shego having no control over her body, and Drakken, frozen with fear of what her reaction would be. He then slowly released a held breath, realizing Shego’s reaction would never come. He asked her to do two steps forward and one step back, and her body did exactly that. He walked around her, eyeing her with fascination, before telling her to simply follow him.

They travelled to one of Drakken’s many lairs - this one was hidden deep in the Peruvian rainforest, in a cave behind a waterfall.

At first, Shego couldn’t help but worry about what he’d do with her. But she certainly didn’t expect him to just… keep ranting, sharing more stories from his childhood, this time with no interruption.

Lots and lots of boring stories.

Just by the sheer volume of how much he kept talking, was enough to convince Shego that Drakken had never seen a therapist in his life. More than that - he was lonely. Desperately lonely. He never had anyone to listen to him.

This man was a disaster.

Finally, the day was saved by none other but Kim Possible and her twin brothers. And once the mind controlling device was off, Shego turned to stare right into Drakken’s eyes. He almost shrunk under her glare.

“Okay, doc,” she said, crossing the room to get to him. “For future reference, the chip made me obey every command, but I was  _ aware  _ of exactly what was happening.”

“The whole time?” he asked, surprised, before he started running away to save his life, too afraid of what Shego would do to him if he stopped.

“Do you have any idea what listening to you is like, it is so boring!” she kept yelling after him.

He managed to run outside the lair, but he didn’t get far. She grabbed him by the front of his coat and put him against the rock wall. Her other hand started glowing green.

“No!” he whimpered as the glow crept dangerously toward his face. “Sh-Shego, please let’s talk about this!”

_ “I _ have nothing to say to you!”

“Then let me talk! Could you-” he swallowed nervously. “Could you put your hand away?”

“No. Talk, while you still can,” her hand was still moving towards his face, slowly.

“I’m sorry! Shego, I won’t mind-control you ever again! I promise!”

“I don’t know what makes me more frustrated! The fact that you had the guts to do it  _ at all, _ or the fact that you didn’t have the guts to…” she blinked. “You didn’t…”

He also blinked, his brow furrowed. Her glow was inches away from his nose, but when he spoke, his tone was calm and serious.

“Shego, I’m a supervillain, not a monster.”

She breathed slowly, pulling her glowing hand away.

“You said no cloning,” he kept going, “and I respect your wishes. See? No cloning! So no need to get angry… Right?”

She stared at him for another moment, before finally turning the glow off.

“Fantastic,” he grinned. “So, how about we go back to-”

“No more childhood stories!” she interrupted him. “... Unless I allow it. But if I say stop, you do exactly that! I need my personal space! And we’re adding the no mind-control clause to my contract! Is that clear?”

“Like a crystal!” he smiled apologetically.

“Great!”

She turned away, taking first steps towards the road, before suddenly turning again, giving Drakken a death glare, her hand pointed directly at his head. The glow appeared so fast, he never had a chance to react. He shut his eyes right before he heard an explosion right next to his ear.

When he finally re-opened his eyes, slowly, taking deep, shaky breaths, Shego was gone. His gaze then turned to a deep hole in the wall, right next to his head. Drakken stared at it, his body too tense to move, and his ears still ringing.

* * *

As hard as one would find it to believe, eventually everything came back to normal - soon there was more bickering, sass and maniacal laughter - although Drakken was never quite the same after what happened.

Okay, so maybe he  _ did  _ hire the scariest woman on the planet. Not a big deal.

The truth was that he liked Shego, he really did, despite her aggression and snarky remarks. He didn’t want to drive her away. She was smart. She was fierce and independent. She was everything he was not.

There was only one  _ but, _ though.

He was a lonely man, true, but Shego wasn’t his to keep. She was still her own woman, a mercenary for hire. One day, she left to tutor some rich kid in villainy, just like that. She came back, of course, but this really felt like she was just making another statement on her independence. Not to mention, she had free weekends during which she would always disappear without a trace, only to reappear on Monday, right on time to get back to work.

Drakken got nervous on a day they encountered his rival, Professor Dementor. Dementor just happened to be better than Drakken at almost everything - he was an accomplished inventor, and had more competent henchmen, and Drakken simply hated his guts. Drakken was sure Dementor would try to bribe Shego to work for him instead. Or even worse, that Shego herself would be the one to propose that idea first - and why wouldn’t she, really? Dementor would probably offer her even more money than Drakken ever could. But... nothing like that happened. Dementor kept doing his thing and Shego barely even looked at him, never even thinking about changing sides.

Drakken wasn’t exactly sure when, but one day it hit him just how much he really  _ depended  _ on her. He was a supervillain for years, but once she appeared in his life, he felt lost without her.

There were plenty of better jobs out there. She could leave, she could quit for real, whenever she wanted.

So then… Why did she keep coming back?

* * *

Months have passed, and life kept moving forward with even more evil schemes, even more Kim Possible foiling every single one of them, and even more bickering. And every weekend Shego would spend on her favorite beach, alone, away from it all.

But she noticed that the more she tried to distance herself, the more it seemed to work in the opposite direction - every moment she spent with Drakken seemed that much more meaningful after her return. She really wanted to stay professional, but for some reason it just wasn’t working.

But today she wouldn’t worry about any of that. Today was Christmas.

She already had vacation plans - she was going to spend some time on her favorite beach. As always. All alone.

“Where’s the sunblock?” she asked, getting ready to leave.

“In the mudroom,” Drakken answered with no second thought. “Wait,” his eyes widened as she walked away, “what do you want sunblock for?”

“Ah…” she smiled. “I’m on vacation now, remember?”

And with that, she left the room.

“But don’t you want to  _ stay  _ to see the culmination of everything we’ve been working toward?” Drakken’s voice followed her, sounding almost like he was begging. She couldn’t help but smile and roll her eyes.

A few hours later, she was sunbathing in her favorite spot. And of course, it didn’t take long for Drakken to call her.

“Uh, please, I’m on  _ vacation,” _ she muttered, annoyed, ignoring his call.

For the past few years, this has been her usual holiday strategy - simply avoiding everyone. Spending Christmas alone was… fine. It’s not like she owed anything to anyone. She didn’t have to participate. All she had to do was to wait it out, distracting herself for a while.

She pulled out money to pay for the drink brought by the resort staff, before she was told it’s all been paid for already - apparently some gentleman called and said he’d cover her whole vacation.

Said gentleman even left her a note.

_ Shego,  
_ _ Just my way of saying - thanks for super year! And Merry Christmas!  
_ _ Yours and Evil,  
_ _ Dr. Drakken _

“Aww, that is so nice,” Shego admitted, smiling. “Guess I should have taken this call... Oh, maybe he left the message!”

She pulled out her phone and discovered that there was indeed a voice message waiting for her. She decided to listen to it right away.

“Um, hello Shego, Dr. Drakken,” he started sheepishly. “I hope you’re having a nice vacation. Uh, when you get the chance, could you get  _ up here to the North Pole and save me?” _ the intensity of his voice went from zero to a hundred in a split second. “Please! It’s cold and windy and dark, and we’ve got nothing to- THAT’S  _ MY _ CHICKEN!”

Shego sat there, frozen in place, as the recording ended.

She stared at the lazy waves and the hot sand and the blinding sun without really looking at them. And a second later, she got up and with no hesitation started walking towards the hovercraft, choosing deadly arctic over it all.

* * *

As she raced with time, travelling through miles of snow on a stolen rocket-snowboard, Shego tried to call Drakken, to tell him she was following his signal and that she was almost there, but all she heard from the other side was... a bear’s roars. Shoot. She really hoped she wasn’t too late.

Then she ran into Kim Possible (of course), who also decided to visit the North Pole during Christmas, apparently looking for her sidekick, Ron. Shego had no choice but to engage in a fight.

But it was Drakken himself who interrupted  _ them _ \- he showed up out of nowhere, daring to be alright after Shego travelled across the entire world to save him - he stopped their fight, saying something about extreme dinner and cupcakes, and leading them to what it looked like the trash compartment, where he was hiding from the snow.

Before Shego knew, she was sitting next to Kim Possible in front of an improvised fireplace, as Drakken and Ron finished Christmas decorations. Drakken seemed serious about all this.

Soon, Kim’s parents, brothers and even her grandma all showed up too, and before Shego could understand what was happening, Drakken invited them all to sing carols.

Shego observed it all from afar. Drakken was currently talking with James - they were laughing at something one of them said. It was kind of scary how much in that moment Drew looked like their long-lost family member - he just seemed like Kim Possible’s weird uncle.

Shego didn’t feel like she fit into that picture, so she kept leaning against the wall for the most part.

Finally, Drakken grabbed a cupcake and walked over to her to see how she was holding up. She avoided his gaze when he leaned against the wall next to her.

“Ah, it was good to catch up with James,” he said. “I think I really needed this.”

“So are you two… good now?”

“Oh, no, no,” Drakken chuckled. “He’s still a dirty backstabber. Once we enter the new year, the truce’s over. Anyway… I’m… Sorry about interrupting your vacation, Shego. But… To be honest, I’m glad you still made it.”

“Right. I traded my favorite tropical beach for Christmas in the dumpster, with Kim Possible’s family,” she said, looking at James hugging his wife.

“Hey, I’m surprised by this turn of events too,” Drakken admitted.

“You know about nature versus nurture, right?” she asked, remembering something back from her college years.

“What of it?”

“No matter how we’re raised, some people are born to be good and some people are born to be bad,” she said. “Nothing will change after today. They are good people. You and I are the latter.”

She looked at her hands, the very same able to produce the otherworldly glow, the very same that made it difficult to fit in. Some people were fate’s favorites, destined to have loved ones. And some were the freaks of nature, destined for solitude. That’s just how it was.

Drakken shook his head. “But we’re still  _ people.” _

She looked up at him. He was handing her something.

“Cupcake?” he asked with a smile. In this light, his skin seemed even more blue.

Shego took it and stared at it in silence.

She stood there with Drakken, looking at Christmas lights and the Possibles singing carols. Kim’s twin brothers reminded Shego of the Wego twins so much. She hasn’t seen them in years, but they must have been around Kim’s age by now. They were always so excited about holidays. Hego would always bring the biggest Christmas tree he could find, and Mego would always brag about how he bought the best presents for everyone.

This wasn’t Shego’s first Christmas without her family, but up until now she’d always manage to distract herself and avoid anything holiday-related. She’d always manage not being reminded of them.

“Shego?” Drakken must have noticed her teary eyes. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m fine,” she answered, quickly wiping her face with her forearm.

He looked like he fought with himself for a moment, biting his lip. “Forgive me if I sound too forward, but did you wish to be with someone else tonight?”

“Hm? Oh, n-no,” she couldn’t help but chuckle. “No, I don’t have… anyone else to spend Christmas with.”

He looked at her sadly, in silence.

“Oh, please, I don’t need your pity,” she smirked. “What about you, Dr. D?”

“Meeting with my family during Christmas?” his eyes widened. “No, no, no, they would- They would drive me crazy,” he looked down, before quickly glancing at her, before looking down again. “That’s why I’m glad I… got to spend this year’s Christmas with you, after all. It’s just not the same when I rant to myself.”

She looked at him with a smile.

“You know what? Despite our many setbacks… It’s been a pleasure working with you for the entire year, Dr. D. Here’s to another year,” she took a bite of the cupcake, before realizing something and spitting it out immediately. “Yuck! You made it from the trash you found, didn’t you! Gross! Ugh! Those cupcakes are a bit too extreme, even for me.”

“I warned ya,” Drakken shrugged, smiling.


End file.
